DeLaval

DeLaval highlights 2016/2017

We relentlessly innovate to help ensure our customers’ success

​​​​​​​​​​​​Innovating for continuous customer success

We relentlessly innovate to help ensure our customers’ success. In fact, we have accrued more than 600 patent families over the last 20 years alone; patents for solutions that help our customers improve productivity and profitability by addressing animal welfare, work efficiency, and food safety. In addition to our DeLaval cleaning analysis DCA and other products we describe on other pages, there are many other innovations helping our customers day-in and day-out.

One is our DeLaval cleaning control unit T300. This cost effective unit controls cooling and cleaning processes in milk storage tanks, both of which are essential to milk quality. In addition to its many unique technical features, it uses an average of 30 per cent less water than conventional circulation cleaning systems.

It’s only natural that our innovations also focus on cow comfort and longevity. After all, happy cows are productive cows. That’s why we invented the DeLaval dairy fan DDF1200, a very quiet, low-energy fan with a unique design that delivers more focused air to prevent heat stress. It’s also why we’re proud of our patented DeLaval cow LED CL6000 and CL9000 barn illumination. This lighting uses 75 per cent less energy than today’s HID lamps and is based on cows’ – not humans’ – light wave detection characteristics to ensure their comfort.

Another innovation is the smartphone app DeLaval milk24, a cloud-based cow management tool for users of stanchion barns. This tool uploads and analyses data directly from DeLaval’s stanchion/tie stall milking units, and because the data is stored both on the phone and in the cloud, partners, veterinarians, feed advisors, and other authorised users can access the data.

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DeLaval receives quality certificates for two products at EuroTier

At EuroTier 2016 in Hannover, Germany, DeLaval received quality certificates for the DeLaval cow mattress M45R and the DeLaval rubber mat RM21 BS. These products allow cows to move freely and rest properly, promoting good utilisation of feed and blood flow, which in turn promote good milk yields. The M45R is a cow-friendly seamless mattress that prevents hoof diseases and prevents dirt from getting under the cover, making it easier to maintain a more hygienic environment. The RM21 BS mat is made of high quality, shock absorbing rubber with a patent-protected top surface and built-in slope to facilitate urine drainage.

We Live Milk, for the benefit of everyone

Our vision is to make sustainable food production possible. And we are committed to helping dairy farmers do the same. “We Live Milk” is a DeLaval pledge that showcases our innovations and this year, we added a customer focus to inspire and continue driving change in four important areas where dairy farmers face challenges: farm profitability, food safety, work efficiency and animal welfare. To inspire and drive change, we showcased use of our integrated solutions for these challenges by farmers who “live milk”. Here’s a brief look at how are products are helping.

FARM PROFITABILITY

Mr Seifried in Austria needed to improve profitability to leave the farm to the next generation. So he expanded the herd from 15 to 54 cows and invested in a new barn with DeLaval equipment. The manure scraper, swinging cow brush, water troughs and rubber mats resulted in 10% higher milk yield, thanks to improved cow well-being.

ANIMAL WELFARE

Mr Sedlmair runs Sedlmair farm in Schwabhausen, Germany with his brother and parents. Income had to be increased for three families to be able to live off the farm, so the herd was doubled from 150 to 300 cows and a DeLaval robot scraper RS420S was installed. This
not only saves the family time, it has also reduced the problem of hoof infections from 40% to 15%.

FOOD SAFETY

Thanks to the true quarter milking made possible through use of the DeLaval AMR™ (Automatic Milking Rotary), Mr Espig at Bauernland AG farm in Waldkirchen, Germany can follow up and analyse milk from each individual teat. This makes it easy for him to quickly discover milk-out performance deviations, flow speed, blood presence and udder conductivity levels, and thus key changes in milk quality early.

WORK EFFICIENCY

An increase in herd sized doesn’t mean increased time in the barn. When Mr Baldauf increased his herd from 40 to 70 cows in 2014, he also installed the DeLaval VMS™. This voluntary milking system is why, despite the larger herd, he reduced milking time by two-thirds. Where milking used to take him two hours, it now takes him 45 minutes, giving him and his family the opportunity to do other things.

Helping to control digital dermatitis

We advocate use of the Five-Point Plan for Control of Digital Dermatitis in young stock, dry cows and milking cows. The plan – the result of a joint effort between DeLaval and agricultural science experts in seven European countries and the US – addresses various internal and external biosecurity measures that farmers should put in place. DeLaval developed and launched EasyStride™ to help them fulfil point four – frequent foot disinfection to reduce new cases. This patent-pending biocidal solution to control bacteria that cause hoof infections was formulated using organic acids, and is free from heavy metals, formaldehyde and quaternary ammonium compounds.

THE 5-POINT PLAN TO CONTROL DIGITAL DERMATITIS

External biosecurity to keep disease out of farm.

Internal biosecurity to minimise infection pressure on cows.

Early identification, recording and treatment of clinical cases, in association with hoof care.

Frequent foot disinfection to reduce new cases.

Define and monitor hoof health targets.

Danone contract with DeLaval Cleaning solutions (DCS)

In 2016, DeLaval Cleaning Solutions (DCS) implemented a program to supply dosing systems, hygiene chemicals and services to Danone’s North American production facilities. This five-year agreement is valued at nearly €5 million annually and includes all seven of their dairy processing facilities in the US and Canada.

Chilean dairy farm set to become the largest robotic farm in the world

DeLaval signed an agreement to install 64 DeLaval VMS™ milking robots at Fundo El Risquillo, a large farm in Chile with 6500 dairy cows. This installation will make Fundo El Risquillo – owned by Agrícola Ancali and part of the Bethia Group – the world’s largest robotic milking farm. The decision to install more milking robots came after the clear success of the 16 DeLaval VMS™ milking robots it already had installed, the first eight of which were installed in 2014. Their use resulted in a 10% increase in milk production. Of the 920 cows going through the system, the average yield was 45.2 litres. Animal welfare also improved, with the cows experiencing reduced stress. The farm plans to have their best 4,500 cows milked by DeLaval VMS™ when the installation is complete in 2017. The barns today also include a range of other cow comfort solutions from DeLaval such as ventilation systems, cow cooling, rubber flooring, swinging cow brushes, water troughs and illumination.

Small changes, big results

It may seem simplistic, but milk yield can be increased by brushing cows. Data from a Swedish study at Uppsala University showed that for each additional time a cow used our patented DeLaval swinging cow brush SCB, there was a 0.75 kg higher daily yield of milk and a 0.32 kg higher daily roughage consumption. The brush, which rotates at an animal-friendly speed and swings freely in all directions, is now joined by similar brushes for calves and goats, and a stationary alternative.

Reviving the dairy industry in the land of the rising sun

DeLaval is part of the robot-led dairy revival in Japan. These milking robots – the sale of which jumped 67 per cent after doubling in 2015 – are being increasingly introduced. Currently, only 2 per cent of all dairy farms in Japan use robotic systems, but this number is expected to reach 30 per cent. We also expect that the use of robots will spread faster in Japan than in other countries.

Robots tuned to grazing herds

In Ireland, robotic milking on grassland is gaining in popularity. This is greatly due to DeLaval’s development of an automated milking system that meets the specific needs of Ireland’s grass-based milk production system, together with our ABC grazing system. Pastures are divided into three different areas (A, B, C), which are available to the cows at
different periods throughout the day. The VMS is ideally located centrally and includes a collecting area into which cows can be segregated. Cows with milking permission can walk to the robot at any time. With our specially-designed VMS – based on extensive research in existing grassland markets in South America, Australia and New Zealand – farmers can now have the best of both worlds.